Have grades 3.8/score 173 for next set of schools behind HYS.Where to go where there are students who do outdoors stuff in downtime instead of just hitting the bars? Camping, backcountry skiing, whitewater/river rafting, etc.Even if I can't do this stuff every weekend, I want to be around people who also dig the outdoors.

Thanks for the confidence in the grades/score but am not headed to Big Law so want to spend 3 years with like-minded people. No put down for those choosing 100 workweeks and making partner in 7 years but my interests are more in-line with public interest, mediation, environmental, etc. and people making other choices than paycheck.

hazelb wrote:Thanks for the confidence in the grades/score but am not headed to Big Law so want to spend 3 years with like-minded people. No put down for those choosing 100 workweeks and making partner in 7 years but my interests are more in-line with public interest, mediation, environmental, etc. and people making other choices than paycheck.

hazelb wrote:Thanks for the confidence in the grades/score but am not headed to Big Law so want to spend 3 years with like-minded people. No put down for those choosing 100 workweeks and making partner in 7 years but my interests are more in-line with public interest, mediation, environmental, etc. and people making other choices than paycheck.

You've heard about the state of the legal hiring market, right? All those areas will be easier to get into from Harvard too.

hazelb wrote:Thanks for the confidence in the grades/score but am not headed to Big Law so want to spend 3 years with like-minded people. No put down for those choosing 100 workweeks and making partner in 7 years but my interests are more in-line with public interest, mediation, environmental, etc. and people making other choices than paycheck.

That makes it difficult to quantify the value of each T14 compared to the others. Before you posted this, I was going to ask you if the outdoors stuff meant enough to you that you would be willing to sacrifice job prospects for it (BIG LAWLZ chances). However, because you do not want big law, it becomes more difficult (even though you should know that good PI and government jobs are harder to get than Big Law, and big law feeds into those jobs).

Last edited by Aberzombie1892 on Sun Sep 16, 2012 10:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.

hazelb wrote:Thanks for the confidence in the grades/score but am not headed to Big Law so want to spend 3 years with like-minded people. No put down for those choosing 100 workweeks and making partner in 7 years but my interests are more in-line with public interest, mediation, environmental, etc. and people making other choices than paycheck.

Your call, but you should at least apply and then visit, if you're accepted, so that you can see how much reality varies from your preconceptions. The differences in student bodies are probably not as stark as you imagine. Most people at Boalt are not aiming for PI. By the same token, HLS is big enough for you to find a good number of people on non-BigLaw tracks. You should also consider that many PI jobs are harder to get than BigLaw jobs, and law school prestige matters just as much there as well.

You should also apply to NYU as well, if you can stomach the idea of living in NYC (you're essentially an auto-admit there); they're known for having a strong PI culture. Hell, throw an app at Yale, too. You never know. The institutional and student body commitment to PI is as strong here as you'll find at any top school.

You should go to the best school that admits you. You are not going to find a school full of people who are into PI. You should also go to a school that offers the best LRAP program for public interest. I think your first concern should be maximizing the chances you will be able to land an ultra-competitive job and then a very close secon, how will you repay loans if you have to borrow money to pay for law school.

You can find outdoors things to do and outdoorsy people pretty much every where.

What is your concern about finding " like-minded" people? What sort of people do you assume go to T14 schools?

The fact that you don't want big law makes this the first time I've ever recommended my school on TLS.

CU-Boulder hands down for everything you've mentioned. You can walk out the front door of the law school and hike the flatirons. Check out some pics-- http://www.colorado.edu (scroll all the way down to check out a nice shot of the campus). The culture here is very "outdoors." We are within an hour of great skiing, rafting, camping, you name it. Boulder constantly ranks as the healthiest city in America. Some good info-- http://www.bouldercoloradousa.com/media ... kit/facts/.

I don't know about Berkeley. Had a friend go there for grad school and took a couple visits-- seems like a great place. I'm not sure that Berkeley is as health/enviro conscious though (although both places are clearly very progessive), and I know you would have to travel much further for rafting and skiing.

Lastly, your question is misplaced because on TLS 90% of the people care far, far more about employment statistics than quality of life. Going to CU is a great way to become a DA, PD, City Attorney, or into many other jobs that most here would turn up their noses to. With those numbers and a good Why CU-Boulder essay, you would assuredly get a full-ride. Even without a full-ride, there are loan forgiveness and payment plans. No one on here would ever recommend them, but almost no one on this site would feel comfortable living on 35k-50k. You sound like you've realized you can be very happy on such a salary, so I don't recommend you pay much attention to this website. GL.

Lord Randolph McDuff wrote:The fact that you don't want big law makes this the first time I've ever recommended my school on TLS.

CU-Boulder hands down for everything you've mentioned. You can walk out the front door of the law school and hike the flatirons. Check out some pics-- http://www.colorado.edu (scroll all the way down to check out a nice shot of the campus). The culture here is very "outdoors." We are within an hour of great skiing, rafting, camping, you name it. Boulder constantly ranks as the healthiest city in America. Some good info-- http://www.bouldercoloradousa.com/media ... kit/facts/.

I don't know about Berkeley. Had a friend go there for grad school and took a couple visits-- seems like a great place. I'm not sure that Berkeley is as health/enviro conscious though (although both places are clearly very progessive), and I know you would have to travel much further for rafting and skiing.

Lastly, your question is misplaced because on TLS 90% of the people care far, far more about employment statistics than quality of life. Going to CU is a great way to become a DA, PD, City Attorney, or into many other jobs that most here would turn up their noses to. With those numbers and a good Why CU-Bouder essay, you would assuredly get a full-ride. Even without a full-ride, there are loan forgiveness and payment plans. No one on here would ever recommend them, but almost no one on this site would feel comfortable living on 35k-50k. You sound like you've realized you can be very happy on such a salary, so I don't recommend you pay much attention to this website. GL.

Lord Randolph McDuff wrote:The fact that you don't want big law makes this the first time I've ever recommended my school on TLS.

CU-Boulder hands down for everything you've mentioned. You can walk out the front door of the law school and hike the flatirons. Check out some pics-- http://www.colorado.edu (scroll all the way down to check out a nice shot of the campus). The culture here is very "outdoors." We are within an hour of great skiing, rafting, camping, you name it. Boulder constantly ranks as the healthiest city in America. Some good info-- http://www.bouldercoloradousa.com/media ... kit/facts/.

I don't know about Berkeley. Had a friend go there for grad school and took a couple visits-- seems like a great place. I'm not sure that Berkeley is as health/enviro conscious though (although both places are clearly very progessive), and I know you would have to travel much further for rafting and skiing.

Lastly, your question is misplaced because on TLS 90% of the people care far, far more about employment statistics than quality of life. Going to CU is a great way to become a DA, PD, City Attorney, or into many other jobs that most here would turn up their noses to. With those numbers and a good Why CU-Boulder essay, you would assuredly get a full-ride. Even without a full-ride, there are loan forgiveness and payment plans. No one on here would ever recommend them, but almost no one on this site would feel comfortable living on 35k-50k. You sound like you've realized you can be very happy on such a salary, so I don't recommend you pay much attention to this website. GL.

OP don't listen to this person. Nearly half of the CU Boulder C/O 2011 didn't get FT long-term legal work. I wouldn't go there even if they gave me a full ride.

Lord Randolph McDuff wrote:The fact that you don't want big law makes this the first time I've ever recommended my school on TLS.

CU-Boulder hands down for everything you've mentioned. You can walk out the front door of the law school and hike the flatirons. Check out some pics-- http://www.colorado.edu (scroll all the way down to check out a nice shot of the campus). The culture here is very "outdoors." We are within an hour of great skiing, rafting, camping, you name it. Boulder constantly ranks as the healthiest city in America. Some good info-- http://www.bouldercoloradousa.com/media ... kit/facts/.

I don't know about Berkeley. Had a friend go there for grad school and took a couple visits-- seems like a great place. I'm not sure that Berkeley is as health/enviro conscious though (although both places are clearly very progessive), and I know you would have to travel much further for rafting and skiing.

Lastly, your question is misplaced because on TLS 90% of the people care far, far more about employment statistics than quality of life. Going to CU is a great way to become a DA, PD, City Attorney, or into many other jobs that most here would turn up their noses to. With those numbers and a good Why CU-Boulder essay, you would assuredly get a full-ride. Even without a full-ride, there are loan forgiveness and payment plans. No one on here would ever recommend them, but almost no one on this site would feel comfortable living on 35k-50k. You sound like you've realized you can be very happy on such a salary, so I don't recommend you pay much attention to this website. GL.

OP don't listen to this person. Nearly half of the CU Boulder C/O 2011 didn't get FT long-term legal work. I wouldn't go there even if they gave me a full ride.

Uh, Berkeley. Surfing and hiking are both very close and Lake Tahoe is like three hours away I think? There's a bus that picks people up in SF and Berkeley and takes them to Lake Tahoe resorts early in the morning and brings them back late at night for a full day of skiing and it only costs a tad more than a normal lift pass.

Also, Napa Valley, Yosemite, etc.

It's really no contest. Other than Stanford, which is similar in distance to most of this stuff, no T14 comes close.

Thanks for all the feedback. There's a lot of useful stuff here that I obviously need to weigh - short-term of maintaining current lifestyle to sustain me thru law school vs. long-term of where the degree takes me. Admittedly, I don't really know what kind of law I want to practice. Sounds like some years in big law is inevitable, even if I don't want decades of wearing a suit and going to work in a 35 story glass box.

hazelb wrote:Thanks for all the feedback. There's a lot of useful stuff here that I obviously need to weigh - short-term of maintaining current lifestyle to sustain me thru law school vs. long-term of where the degree takes me. Admittedly, I don't really know what kind of law I want to practice. Sounds like some years in big law is inevitable, even if I don't want decades of wearing a suit and going to work in a 35 story glass box.

if your looking for like minded people im a 1L in NYU now and i can tell you im a minority who admits to wanting biglaw. It seems like everyone in my section (at least those who talk about post law school) all want PI.

Also as a brooklynite my whole life if your willing to bus or drive 2-3 hours you can do almost anything outdoors while still living in NYC

ETA if you need campus life or are not willing to live in NY/east coast post law school forget everything i just posted